More Current Affairs:

Program Archive:

Thursday 17 April 2003

The World Today is a comprehensive current affairs program which backgrounds, analyses, interprets and encourages debate on events and issues of interest and importance to all Australians. Below is the program summary with links to transcripts and audio (if available).

Class action begins over HIH collapse

1,200 former HIH shareholders have started a class action in the Federal Court for compensation. The Royal Commission into HIH has only recommended three criminal charges out of a total of 56 charges in its report. Corporate law specialists say civil convictions with the sanction of a fine or a ban from holding statutory corporate office are much easier to get convictions than going down the route of criminal charges where the proof has to be beyond reasonable doubt rather than balance of probability.

Questions about corporate regulation

while it may not have recommended as many criminal charges as some would have liked, the HIH Royal Commission's damning findings about the regulator, APRA's failure to see the warning signs at HIH, have thrown open the question about just what kind of regulation is appropriate for Australian business. Where does the balance lie between stifling the entrepreneurial spirit and protecting shareholders, workers and the wider community from corporate disasters like the collapse of such a massive insurance company?

Treasurer denies Government or APRA bear any responsibility for HIH collapse

The Treasurer Peter Costello says he's made it clear enough that he wants all charges to actually go to court and if anyone is convicted of criminal charges over the collapse, they should be sent to jail. But the Federal Opposition won't accept Mr Costello's denial that the Federal Government and the prudential regulator, APRA, bear no responsibility and the trade union chief, Greg Combet says the Royal Commission report is too soft on those responsible for the calamity.

Royal Commissions' effectiveness questioned

Criticism that the Royal Commission hasn't recommended tough enough punishments against those responsible for the HIH collapse, and concerns about the inquiry's $40 million price tag have also led some Australians to question the validity of Royal Commissions in general. Legal experts, though, say the public has false expectations about the impact of Royal Commissions and fundamentally misunderstands their role.

US request Australian peace-keeping troops

The Department of Defence has confirmed that a formal request has been made for Australia to provide peacekeeping forces in post-war Iraq. But John Howard says he hasn't been personally approached and he's virtually ruled out any large-scale contribution.

Bush calls on UN to end Iraq sanctions

The US president, George W Bush has called on the United Nations to end the long-standing sanctions against Iraq which have been in place since even before the last Gulf War. The US is planning to introduce a resolution before the UN, ending the "oil for food program" as it's called. If passed, it would mean that Iraq could see its oil coming out once again onto open markets.

Thomas Pickering on the future role of the Coalition

Among the voices inside the United States urging that the Bush administration involve the United Nations more in the post-conflict phase in Iraq are some very senior former diplomats and foreign policy experts at the US Council on Foreign Relations. Thomas Pickering is a former US Under-Secretary of State, a former Ambassador to the United Nations and a career diplomat with decades of experience in the Middle East who's co-authored a report on the task facing the victors after the war called Iraq: the Day After.

US-Russia relations

Until the early 1990s, the ideological standoff between Washington and Moscow and the nuclear balance of power between NATO and the Warsaw Pact forces defined the international order. But following the collapse of the Soviet Union things got distinctly warmer. They're very good under Putin's Russia. But those relations cooled somewhat following Russia's opposition to the war in Iraq. As Hamish Robertson reports for us today, the war could have other more long term implications for relations between the United States and its former superpower rival.

Nauru goes to the polls in two weeks

The tiny central Pacific republic of Nauru which still holds some 450 of Australia's unwanted asylum seekers is going to the polls in just over two weeks. The asylum seeker processing centres are a major election issue. But there are others too, including the decision by the late President to close down Nauru's offshore banks and abandon a passport sale scheme which the United States alleges has provided passports for terrorists.

Farewell to John Highfield

Now to a difficult task for us all here at The World Today. This afternoon we say goodbye to a friend and colleague of enormous passion, skill and generosity who's reported from around the globe for more than four decades and for the last half decade has put his signature on this program. I'm talking of course, about my colleague here in the studio, John Highfield, who after today is swapping his microphone for a management role training young journalists just starting out on their careers.